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Seven Sisters Of Sleep - Ezekiels Hags

This album is exactly what I needed and everything I was hoping for from the major label debut for one of my favorite bands. I have been listening to the Self Titled jammy and Opium Morals for years at this point and I love those albums. I feel like almost no other bands do the "wall of sound" thing as well as SSOS. The tone and depth and fucking size of the music this band makes blows me away. The guitars sound like monsters. The drummer seamlessly moves from gruelingly slow to full on blasts and those fucking vocals...those vocals just break you down. There is pretty much nothing that I feel sounds as evil and punishing as this band and on this, the latest full length they have continued with their legacy of making tremendous music. This album feels very much like the big brother to Opium Morals. It has everything that I like about that album but it sounds like that album went to the gym every day for the last couple years. Right out of the gate they hit you with "Jones" which starts off with a fast and brutal drum beat into one of the most punishing tracks on what I would consider to be one of the harshest and angriest albums I've heard in some time. From the first track into the second we get "Denounce: which is a SSOS classic, it would easily have been at home on any of their previous releases but still shows their growth even just in the guitar intro. Before they hit you with the characteristic wall of sound I mentioned, they give you a moment of beauty before they rip it into shreds and smoke it right in front of you. One thing I can say, as a real fan of this band is that this album...which I have listened to probably 20 times already, will not give me a favorite. Even on the previous albums that I love from front to back there is usually one that I feel stands out. This album is not only fucking angry and intense and evil but it is the pinnacle of consistency. There is no chance that this early entry in the 2016 releases isn't on my "best of" list. If anything I expect 2016 to serve only as a reminder that Seven Sisters of Sleep is miles beyond pretty much every other band making music. Do yourself a favor and go buy this album and ruin the rest of the new releases for 2016 in February. I guess before I sign this review off I should find some criticism so I don't look too dicksucky over this band. The performances by each member are beyond reproach...the playing and vocal performances are all out of this world...but there is something different about the drum sound that I like less than on earlier releases, specifically Opium Morals. I can't quite put my finger on it, but they are almost too clean or to up front in the speakers. This is probably actually a good thing and a "consequence" of a larger record label being able to put more money into this release...at some point it may become something that I prefer about the album but for right now after only having the record for a few days I feel like it is the only thing that doesn't fit.